Donetskshakhtoprokhodka Company

"Donetskshakhtoprokhodka" performs works on sinking and equipping of shafts (from 5.0 to 9.0 m in diameter and up to 1,700 m in depth) under normal and difficult mining conditions using special methods of sinking (preliminary and ongoing tamponage, artificial freeze of unstable rock mass,method of sinking supporting)with construction of cameras and junctions with shaft workings.

The trust uses various types of permanent support: concrete, ferroconcrete with flashing, iron tubing and yielding support with failing outer coat. To reinforce shafts, beam and box buntons with rail or box conductors are used.

"Donetskshakhtoprokhodka Trust" was created in 1952 in Donetsk, Ukraine by the act of the government. The project target was to ensure high rate of deep shaft digging.

For the passed years there was carried out vast work connected with fundamental improvement of excavating equipment, techniques and technology of building vertical shafts. As a result, a technical revolution was made in the sphere of shaft digging. Average month digging rate increased from 19.8 metres per month in 1952 to 73.5 metres per month.

The trust personnel held a number of USSR and world records in digging vertical shafts, namely:
- 1969 - 401.3 m. of digging per month by parallel-shield method with DShP-1 complex at the alternate ventilation mine shaft "17-17 bis". That is the world record of speed of vertical shaft which has not yet been beaten;
- 1979 - 160 m. per month with SK-1u combined gear on cage shaft digging of mine №3 named after Kalinin (Donetsk, Ukraine);
- 1982 - 203.8 m. per month by combined mode with shaft bottom-whole sheathing at the ventilating shaft of mine named after "Socialistichesky Donbass" paper (Donetsk).

Through the years of "Donetskshakhtoprokhodka" functioning at mines under construction (over 50) and over 100 mines under reconstruction over 180 000 metres were dug.

On October 31, 2001 the personnel of the shaft-sinking construction department №3 completed speed digging of a new ventilation shaft at mine named after Zasyadko. The shaft (7 metres in diameter and 1 265 metres in depth) was performed in complicated mining and geological conditions, with average month rate of 100 metres and more. It is worth saying that for the first time in the history of the national mine construction a shaft with the aforesaid parameters was developed and performed during 20 months, including 1000 metres during 10 months of the current year. The mine-sinking department has reached high economic indices: person labour productivity mounted to UAH 10 000 per month, productivity per capita mounted to 4 cubic meters/person per shift. The shaft sought enables to increase the Zasyadko mine capacity to 5 million tons per year and improve labour safety.

On June 26, 2002 there was completed equipping and started digging of the ventilation shaft №2 of "Krasnoarmeyskaya-Zapadnaya №1" (bore hole - 8 m., shaft depth - 860 m). Works are performed by ShPSU №3. Construction of ventilation shaft №2 will enable to increase coal production to 2.5-3 tons per 24 hours, decrease air temperature in the coal faces by 3-4 °C, curtail time to transport people to coal faces.